The Zwanenburgwal is a canal and street in the center of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. During the
Dutch Golden Age
The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...
the canal was home to painter
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the h ...
, as well as philosopher
Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
lived here. In 2006 it was voted one of the most beautiful streets in Amsterdam by readers of ''
Het Parool
''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...
'', a local daily newspaper.
The Zwanenburgwal flows from the Sint Antoniessluis
sluice gate
A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...
(between the streets
Sint Antoniesbreestraat
The Sint Antoniesbreestraat ("St. Anthony's Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The street runs south from Nieuwmarkt square to the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates, where it continues as the Jodenbreestraat. ...
and
Jodenbreestraat
The Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, which connects the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates to the Mr. Visserplein traffic circle. North of the sluice gates, the street continues on to Nieuwmarkt square ...
) to the
Amstel
The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam, to which the rive ...
river. The canal was originally named ''Verversgracht'' ("dyers' canal"), after the textile industry that once dominated this part of town. Dyed textiles were hung to dry along the canal.
Waterlooplein
Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square) is a square in the centre of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The square near the Amstel river is named after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Prominent buildings on the square are the Stopera city hall and opera bu ...
, a market-square popular among city visitors, sits along the Zwanenburgwal. The combined city hall and opera house structure, the
Stopera
The Stopera is a building complex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, housing both the city hall of Amsterdam and the Dutch National Opera and Ballet (formerly Het Muziektheater), the principal opera house in Amsterdam that is home of Dutch National Ope ...
, lies at the intersection of the Zwanenburgwal and the river Amstel. Also on this corner lies the Joods Verzetsmonument, a monument to the Jewish resistance during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, where a ceremony in remembrance of the
Kristallnacht
( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...
massacre is held each year.
Well-known inhabitants of the Zwanenburgwal include the following painters:
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
,
Karel Appel
Christiaan Karel Appel (; 25 April 1921 – 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-gard ...
Cornelis van der Voort
Cornelis van der Voort or van der Voorde (c. 1576 – buried on 2 November 1624) was a Dutch portrait painter, art collector, art appraiser and art dealer from the early 17th century who was active in Amsterdam.Baruch de Spinoza, the architect
Michel de Klerk
Michel de Klerk (24 November 1884, Amsterdam – 24 November 1923, Amsterdam) was a Dutch architect. Born to a Jewish family, he was one of the founding architects of the movement Amsterdam School (Expressionist architecture)
Early in his ca ...
, the writer
Arend Fokke Simonsz
Arend Fokke Simonsz (3 July 1755 – 15 November 1812) was a Dutch writer and intellectual.
Biography
Arend Fokke Simonsz was born to Simon and Cornelia Fokke. Simonsz is best remembered as a writer, but was also an important figure in the liter ...
, and the communist leader
Paul de Groot
Saul "Paul" de Groot (19 July 1899 – 3 August 1986) was a Dutch politician of the Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as ...
. From 1631 to 1635, Rembrandt lived and worked at the home of
Hendrick van Uylenburgh
Hendrick Gerritszoon van Uylenburgh (c. 1587 – 1661) was an influential Dutch Golden Age art dealer who helped launch the careers of Rembrandt, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and other painters.
Biography
Van Uylenburgh came from a Frisian ...
at the corner of Zwanenburgwal and Jodenbreestraat. In 1639 he bought the adjacent house, now the
Rembrandthuis
The Rembrandt House Museum () is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam. Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the Dutch Painting, painter Rembrandt, Rembrandt van Rijn, who also had his ...
museum. Rembrandt was able to leave his house via an exit onto the Zwanenburgwal, running underneath the adjacent corner house, which enabled him to move the giant canvas of the ''
Night Watch
Night Watch or Nightwatch may refer to:
Being on duty at night
* The nighttime shift worked by a security guard (night watchman)
* Watchman (law enforcement), organized groups of men to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement
* One of ...
'' out of his studio.
The Zwanenburgwal was originally an arm of the Amstel delta which was dug into a canal at the start of the 17th Century. In 1602 the Sint Antoniesdijk, a dike along the eastern edge of the city, was breached to construct a sluice gate, the Sint Antoniessluis. The inner section came to be known as the Zwanenburgwal and the outer section, beyond the sluice gate, became known as the
Oude Schans
The Oudeschans, or Oude Schans (Old Rampart), originally the Nieuwe Gracht, is a wide canal in the eastern part of the inner city of Amsterdam.
Location
The Oudeschans canal continues the line of the Zwanenburgwal, to which it is connected by t ...
. During construction of the canal, a part of the Amstel river was reclaimed to form two new neighborhoods, Zwanenburg (west of the Zwanenburgwal) and
Vlooienburg
Vlooienburg or ''Vloonburg'' was a filled-in island in the River Amstel, Amstel river on the site of the Stopera in Amsterdam. In the seventeenth century, a lively migrant neighborhood emerged here with timber traders, Jewish merchants from the Me ...
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s from all over Europe in the late 16th and early 17th Century, the Zwanenburgwal became part of the Jewish neighborhood of Amsterdam. A
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
was located on the Zwanenburgwal until 1936. During World War II, the neighborhood was emptied of its residents as most were deported to the
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.
The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
. The deserted houses were used for firewood and left derelict. After the war, the Vlooienburg district was demolished to make way for a new city hall, which however was not built until the 1980s.